TMS Launches MGI Ambassador Program

Newswise — June 20, 2014 – Warrendale, PA (USA): The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) has announced that it will establish a network of respected materials scientists and engineers who can serve as regional points of contact for public outreach on the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI), advanced by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Known as the TMS MGI Ambassador Program, the project is the latest addition to TMS's rapidly developing portfolio of initiatives focused on accelerating the cost-effective development and manufacture of advanced materials.

The MGI is a multi-agency effort focused on developing an innovation infrastructure for materials discovery and deployment. With funding drawn from the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Departments of Defense and Commerce, MGI supports the development of computational tools, software, new methods for material characterization, and open standards and databases that will make the process of advanced materials development faster and less expensive. Announced by President Barack Obama in 2011, the MGI is celebrating its third anniversary this month.

"MGI aims to speed the discovery and transition of materials technologies at a much lower cost. Figuring out how one can contribute to this goal can be daunting and varies from material-to-material and industry-to-industry," said Charles H. Ward, Chair of the TMS Materials Innovation Committee that will be overseeing the TMS MGI Ambassador Program. "This new program provides a valuable resource for people and organizations who want to sort through these complexities by consulting experts who are recognized leaders in applying the tenets of MGI. It will also provide TMS members greater insight and understanding on how they can best connect to the MGI effort, while keeping TMS at the forefront of this important national initiative."

At the core of the TMS MGI Ambassador Program are approximately ten volunteer experts who are conversant about MGI and its importance and impact on the materials community and overall quality of life in the United States. After nominations are received through the TMS website and TMS Materials Innovation Committee members, the committee will determine the final roster of ambassadors to ensure a balance of industries, materials expertise, and geographic representation. The TMS MGI Ambassadors will then be made available to respond to MGI-related questions, according to their areas of expertise. The roster of TMS MGI Ambassadors will be announced in August, along with the process for submitting questions.

"The beauty of the MGI is that its benefits extend throughout our society, from helping the average person on the street, to strengthening our economy, to achieving our national policy objectives in a very synergistic, beneficial, cooperative manner," said Kevin Anderson, a volunteer member of the working group that helped develop the TMS MGI Ambassador program. "The TMS MGI Ambassador program will communicate directly with people so they appreciate the importance of this initiative and how it impacts their daily lives."

"TMS embraces the development of a new innovation infrastructure to unify and streamline materials design and manufacturing processes. Indeed, this is a focal point of our strategic plan," added James J. Robinson, TMS Executive Director. "We have had great success in convening the materials community around these issues through our publications, roadmapping studies, summits, technical programs, and other initiatives. The materials field knows and appreciates these contributions well. We now seek to educate the broader science and engineering community, as well as the public sector, by raising the general awareness and understanding of how materials and manufacturing innovation collaboratively lift up both our technological innovation and quality of life. Through the efforts of the TMS Materials Innovation Committee, TMS is pleased to be working with our society membership on implementing the TMS MGI Ambassador Program as a means of accomplishing this very important outreach."

The MGI Ambassador Program joins several other new major undertakings announced by TMS this past year in response to growing member interest and activity in integrating materials and manufacturing innovations. These include:

The First TMS Summit on Integrated Manufacturing and Materials InnovationsTaking place November 15–19, 2015, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the summit will examine solutions for applications in both established and emerging industries, providing a valuable forum for information exchange and networking among members of various manufacturing-related institutes and consortia. In addition to sharing and assessing materials-related breakthroughs, the summit will build on opportunities to roadmap key areas for future development. It will be held every two years.

Technical RoadmappingTMS is leading a new roadmapping study on behalf of the NIST Material Measurement Laboratory to develop recommendations for critical steps and pathways needed to connect computational materials models and simulations across various length scales in an accurate, automated fashion. The need for these types of linkages across different length scales and stages of integrated computational materials engineering (ICME)-accelerated product development cycles was identified as a significant barrier to broader ICME implementation in the 2013 TMS study, Implementing ICME in the Aerospace, Automotive, and Maritime Industries. TMS has already convened a core team of internationally recognized experts and will be reaching out to others over the next several months for study content and review. The multiscale roadmapping study is on track to be unveiled at the TMS 3rd World Congress on ICME (ICME 2015), May 31–June 4, 2015, in Colorado Springs, and then will be made available for free download on the TMS website.

About TMSThe Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) is a member-driven international professional society dedicated to fostering the exchange of learning and ideas across the entire range of materials science and engineering, from minerals processing and primary metals production, to basic research and the advanced applications of materials. Included among its 12,000 professional and student members are metallurgical and materials engineers, scientists, researchers, educators, and administrators from more than 70 countries on six continents. For more information on TMS, visit www.tms.org.